2016 AFC U-16 Championship

The 2016 AFC U-16 Championship was the 17th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in India, as announced by the AFC on 3 June 2015,^[1][2] and was played between 15 September and 2 October 2016.^[3] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.

Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup also in India as the AFC representatives, besides India who qualified automatically as hosts. If India were among the top four teams, three play-off matches would be played to decide the fifth-placed team which also qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup; however, this was not necessary as India were eliminated in the group stage.^[4]

This marked the first time a U-17 World Cup host nation hosts the AFC U-16 Championship.

Iraq won the tournament after beating Iran 4–3 on penalties in the final match.

Qualification

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 5 June 2015.^[5] A total of 45 teams were drawn into eleven groups, with the eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualifying for the final tournament, together with India who qualified automatically as hosts but also competed in the qualifying stage.

The qualifiers were played between 12–20 September 2015, except for Group H which were played between 2–6 September 2015.^[6]

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.^[7] Nepal were replaced by Kyrgyzstan due to one of their players failing an MRI bone test.^[8]

On 12 April 2016, the AFC Competitions Committee decided that if the FIFA suspension of the Kuwait Football Association was not lifted by 13 May 2016, the next highest ranked team in the AFC U-16 Championship qualifying competition would replace Kuwait in the competition.^[9]

On 13 May 2016, the FIFA Congress confirmed the suspension of Kuwait, and asked the FIFA Council to lift the suspension as soon as the necessary requirements are fulfilled.^[10] As a result, Kuwait were replaced by Yemen, the next highest ranked team in the AFC U-16 Championship qualifying competition.^[11]

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
India	Hosts / Group E (3rd best) runners-up	7th	Quarter-finals (2002)
Uzbekistan	Group A winners	9th	Champions (2012)
Kyrgyzstan	Group B winners	1st	Debut
Iraq	Group C winners	9th	Third place (1985), Semi-finals (2012)
Saudi Arabia	Group D winners	10th	Champions (1985, 1988)
Iran	Group E winners	10th	Champions (2008)
Malaysia	Group G winners	4th	Quarter-finals (2014)
North Korea	Group H winners	10th	Champions (2010, 2014)
South Korea	Group I winners	12th	Champions (1986, 2002)
Australia	Group J winners	5th	Semi-finals (2010, 2014)
Japan	Group K winners	13th	Champions (1994, 2006)
Vietnam	Group J (1st best) runners-up	6th	Fourth place (2000)
Thailand	Group H (2nd best) runners-up	10th	Champions (1998)
United Arab Emirates	Group D (4th best) runners-up	7th	Runners-up (1990)
Oman	Group B (5th best) runners-up	9th	Champions (1996, 2000)
Yemen	Group A (6th best) runners-up	5th	Runners-up (2002)

Venues

The tournament is played in two venues:

Margao	Goa 2016 AFC U-16 Championship (India)
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Capacity: 19,000
Bambolim
GMC Athletic Stadium
Capacity: 3,600

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 26 May 2016, 15:00 IST (UTC+5:30), in Goa (postponed from 4 May 2016).^[12][13] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.^[4] The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2014.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
India (hosts; position A1)  North Korea  South Korea  Australia	Iran  Malaysia  Japan  Uzbekistan	Thailand  Saudi Arabia  Oman  Vietnam	United Arab Emirates  Yemen  Kyrgyzstan  Iraq

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2000 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team should register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers.

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:^[14]

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. If, after applying criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
5. Goal difference in all the group matches;
6. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
8. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
9. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).^[15]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	United Arab Emirates	3	2	1	0	7	4	+3	7
3	Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	6	9	−3	1
4	India (H)	3	0	1	2	5	9	−4	1

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	0	21	0	+21	9	Knockout stage
2	Vietnam	3	2	0	1	6	10	−4	6
3	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	0	2	2	11	−9	3
4	Australia	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oman	3	1	2	0	4	1	+3	5	Knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
3	South Korea	3	1	1	1	4	2	+2	4
4	Malaysia	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1

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Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	9	4	+5	9	Knockout stage
2	North Korea	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6
3	Yemen	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1
4	Thailand	3	0	1	2	5	10	−5	1

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Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-out is used to decide the winner if necessary (extra time is not used).^[14]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	25 September – Margao
	Iran	5
					29 September – Margao
	Vietnam	0
					Iran (p)	1 (6)
	26 September – Margao
					North Korea	1 (5)
	Oman	1 (2)
									2 October – Margao
	North Korea (p)	1 (4)
									Iran	0 (3)
	25 September – Bambolim
									Iraq (p)	0 (4)
	Japan	1
					29 September – Bambolim
	United Arab Emirates	0
					Japan	2
	26 September – Bambolim
					Iraq	4
	Uzbekistan	0
	Iraq	2

Quarter-finals

Winners qualify for 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

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Semi-finals

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Final

Winners

AFC U-16 Championship 2016 winners
Iraq First title

Awards

Most Valuable Player

• Mohammed Dawood^[16]

Top Scorer

• Mohammed Dawood^[16]

Fair Play

•  Iraq^[16]

Goalscorers

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: the-afc.com

Tournament ranking

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Iraq	6	3	3	0	10	5	+5	12	Champions
2	Iran	6	3	3	0	13	4	+9	12	Runners-up
3	Japan	5	4	0	1	24	4	+20	12	Semi-finalists
4	North Korea	5	2	2	1	9	6	+3	8
5	Uzbekistan	4	3	0	1	9	6	+3	9	Eliminated in quarter-finals
6	United Arab Emirates	4	2	1	1	7	5	+2	7
7	Oman	4	1	3	0	5	2	+3	6
8	Vietnam	4	2	0	2	6	15	−9	6
9	South Korea	3	1	1	1	4	2	+2	4	Eliminated in group stage
10	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	0	2	2	11	−9	3
11	Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	6	9	−3	1
12	Yemen	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1
13	India (H)	3	0	1	2	5	9	−4	1
14	Thailand	3	0	1	2	5	10	−5	1
15	Malaysia	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1
16	Australia	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following five teams from AFC qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, including India which qualified as hosts.^[17]

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1
India	5 December 2013[18]	0 (Debut)
Iraq	26 September 2016	1 (2013)
Iran	25 September 2016	3 (2001, 2009, 2013)
Japan	25 September 2016	7 (1993, 1995, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013)
North Korea	26 September 2016	4 (2005, 2007, 2011, 2015)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Ban on North Korean manager and goalkeeper

On 4 November 2016, the AFC announced that North Korean manager Yung Jong-su and goalkeeper Jang Paek-ho were banned for a year for bringing the game into disrepute following the deliberate conceding of a goal during their final group match against Uzbekistan.^[19] The goal in question was conceded in the 49th minute, which Jang appeared to duck out of the way of a direct kick from the Uzbek goalkeeper. Uzbekistan won the match 3–1 and finished top of the group, meaning they would meet Iraq in the quarter-finals, and they went on to lose. North Korea, as group runners-up, met Oman in the quarter-finals, which they won to qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.^[20] The ban means both Yung and Jang are suspended from the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

The North Korean team were also placed on a suspended ban from the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship. While they will be allowed to compete in the qualifiers, if the team engage in similar behaviour, they will be automatically ejected from the competition.^[19]

References

External links

• AFC U-16 Championship, the-AFC.com